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What is the most anabolic substance? Is it food? No. Is it water? No. The most anabolic substance on earth is AIR. We can live for a few weeks without food. A few days without water. But only a few minutes without air.

Airman’s shoulders are bigger than ours!

Are you getting enough air?

Get a close pin and clip your nose. Try training. Fuck it’s impossible! Try sleeping. Good luck haha. Yet that’s what you are doing when you go about your life with a bad nose. When your septum is deviated, or your sinuses or mucous membranes are inflamed from allergies or irritants, you’re not getting enough air. You get more air by clearing your breathing pathway. Here’s how to open up your nose.

The “opening up your nose” program

This program is best tested as a pre-sleep routine. So that’s how we’re going to try this program.

Step 1: Go to the pharmacy and buy stuff

Alcohol swabs, nasal strips, Oxymetazoline based nasal spray

Any alcohol swabs will do. I recommend EXTRA sized nasal strips, they actually are stronger than normal sized strips and work significantly better. As for the Oxymetazoline based nasal decongestant spray, I think all Oxymetazoline spray products are standardized to 0.05% concentration, so it doesn’t matter which you purchase. I bought a store brand at a US grocery chain (Publix).

Step 2: Use the stuff you bought

I recommend first trying this out an an hour before bed.

Clean the top of your nose with the alcohol swabs and dry it.

Apply the nasal strip. Too low is better than too high for the placement.

Now spray the Oxymetazoline spray into your nose. 3 full sprays per nostril.

Snort and blow your nose for the next hour as the nasal passages begin clearing. You might notice it’s a lot easier to breathe out of your nose. Great. Now go to sleep. You might have the best night of sleep you’ve ever had. One interesting observation you may make: you don’t wake up to pee. Often when we wake up to pee at night, it’s not because we have to pee, it’s because we can’t breathe… and then we just get up and pee while we’re awakened.

Unfortunately, if you like this pre-sleep ritual you can’t do it forever because Oxymetazoline is dangerous if used everyday.

Step 3: Make a diluted Oxymetazoline solution

Oxymetazoline is not a drug to dick around with. It’s very powerful and you shouldn’t use it for more than 3 days in a row at the normal over-the-counter doses: it can permanently damage your nasal passages if used long term. However, it is possible to safely use Oxymetazoline long term if it is diluted. So let’s make a diluted version of the Oxymetazoline nasal spray.

Go back to the pharmacy and buy:

Saline

An empty container for small liquids.

A 1 mL dropper.

Roughly make a 5:95 solution of Oxymetazoline nasal spray to saline. (about 5% Oxymetazoline). Take these steps:

Empty ALL of the Oxymetazoline nasal spray from its container into the empty container.

Refill the original Oxymetazoline container with Saline solution to the top.

Add back in 1 mL of the transferred Oxymetazoline back into its original container.

Shake.

These instructions are for a 30 mL unit of Oxymetazoline nasal spray.

(IE. 30 mL of saline + 1 mL of Oxymetazoline + whatever is left on the inside walls of the original Oxymetazoline spray bottle is about 5%)

How precise is this dilution protocol? Well, it’s not as precise as me using a pipette, but it’s close enough.

A 1 mL dropper would be a suitable substitute tool for this pipette operation.

When you use the diluted Oxymetazoline solution you should notice that it still works very well. Continue using the new diluted Oxymetazoline solution nightly with your nose strips.

This isn’t the end of the road for us, let’s add one final tweak, and then a very important last step on our journey towards ultimate nosery.

Step 4: Introduce the neti pot

Jujimufu, the neti pot viking.

hhhhh

Go acquire these items from a natural health food store or herbal shop:

A neti pot

Neti wash salt

Distilled water

A neti pot will clear your nasal passages of debris and boogers. It’s really quite cool! So start by filling your neti pot with room temperature distilled water and microwave for about 20 seconds, until luke warm. Add about 1/16th tsp of neti salt, mix, and then use. Repeat again for the other nostril. There are many instructions on the internet on how to use a neti pot for nasal irrigation. I’ll let you google that yourself. Hell, your neti pot box probably has instructions on it somewhere. Don’t use the neti pot immediately before bed.

So do this 15 minutes after you apply the nose strip and use your diluted Oxymetazoline solution. (the neti pot is more effective when your airways are already opened up). The reason you use the neti pot 45 minutes before bed instead of immediately before bed is because after you use the neti pot, you might bend over later and notice more water draining out of your nose. It happens. You need enough time before bed for it to drain or you’ll be sleeping with water in your nose.

Now for the most important step in this program.

Step 5: Visit an ENT doctor

Make an appointment for an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat doctor). If you’ve never had an ENT doctor check your nose before, it’s time to do it NOW. Schedule an appointment and then tell them you want a general checkup. While you are there, have them visually inspect for a deviated septum and report any trouble you may have had breathing. Here’s something important to remember: the primary cause of a deviated septum is a blow to the nose.

Have you ever gotten in a fight, been hit in the nose by a ball, elbowed in the nose, or hit your face tricking? That’s all it takes to deviate your septum permanently for the rest of your life. It’s possible your nose was smacked, your septum then deviated, and you didn’t even know it. It’s possible you’ve been breathing crappy only recently the past few years. Visit an ENT. Now.

Here are at least two things the ENT may do. 1) If your septum is very deviated, they’ll perform surgery like they did on my friend Armando. 2) If your nose isn’t that bad, but isn’t great, they may prescribe you a medicine safer for long term use than Oxymetazoline. Me? My septum is deviated, but only very mildly. The doctor said I may not benefit from a surgery. However, he noted my mucous membranes were severely inflamed, which is why I had so much trouble breathing out of my nose. What was inflaming them? Allergies. To what? Modern life. Probably caused by a host of unavoidable things floating around in the atmosphere from industry, traffic, household cleaners, by products of air conditioning, chemicals, you name it…

My nose can be Abnormal due to allergies and inflammation. Caused by what? Caused by modern life, that’s what…

The doctor prescribed me medication for my inflamed nasal passages. I got a prescription for something called Dymista.

My prescription Dymista.

I love Dymista and it’s what I’m using now instead of the Oxymetazoline for daily use. It’s not as powerful as Oxymetazoline but there are fewer side effects and it’s safer for long term use. I use it in the morning, and before sleeping. Dymista is an anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory, which reduces the swelling and allows me to breathe optimally.

Bonus: the “high air” pre-workout protocol

If you want more than just improved sleep quality through oxygen uptake you can try the “high air” pre-workout protocol. There are 3 ingredients…

Ephedrine HCL 25mg for LUNG ERECTION

Nasal strip for ORC NOSE

3 full strength sprays of Oxymetazoline HCL for NOSE VACUUM

You could do this once or twice a week long term, the limiting ingredient being the full strength Oxymetazoline spray (because I wouldn’t use the full strength Oxymetazoline spray more than once or twice per week long term.) Experience the future of pre-workout trends, today, by stacking the “high air” pre-workout stack on top of your current pre-workout stack (preferably coffee, a mild pain killer, and some trending odd soon-to-be-illicit stimulant of some sort).

Why I wrote this

Air is the most anabolic substance on earth. If you aren’t getting enough air because you have asthma or restrictions in your nasal passage like I discussed in this post, your gains will be stunted and your quality of life will be needlessly reduced. I realized I haven’t been getting enough air when I breathe through my nose when my buddy Armando Figueroa shared his story with me. He inspired these instructions courtesy of his ENT, which I ran by my own ENT with confirmation, which I’ve shared here, that I’ve been using the past months with great effect. I now sleep much better, sometimes not waking up even once in the middle of the night! I am very thankful he motivated me to visit an ENT and get myself checked up.

Your turn

Now it’s time for you to try the protocol in this post and comment below. Then visit an ENT soon and let us know how your visit goes. Good luck!

P.S.

If anyone can figure out a way to save money on nose strips please let me know! I’m going broke on these things and none of the DIY instructions online I’ve tried have worked!

54 thoughts on “The most anabolic substance”

Hahaha, performance enhancing drugs for breathing. Great point though, whenever I trick or do anything that requires a high respiratory demand my performance sucks without my inhaler (albuterol sulfate).

I always thought about that, i’ve practiced karate for 12 years, and every time i was fighting I started to breath throught my mouth, that irritated a lot my throat and caused some real loss of energy with time.
I have already tryied those nose strips and some kind of spray…
Yet my problem persists, every day one of my nostrils are congested.
This encouraged me to see a doc asap. Will post my results here later!

I have cut out my nose hairs before and… while a little trimming can make breathing a bit more comfortable, when you simply cut them all out of your nose the following days your nostrils feel like they are on fire!!! So yeah, nose hairs are your friend haha. Nice point you made too, didn’t think about that (definitely didn’t think of that the few times I trimmed my nose hairs like a fool haha)

idk much bout this armando guy, but if you have sleep apnea its because you snore.
as a kid i had severe allergies where i would go for three days without being able breath trough my nose, i slept just breathing trough my mouth, after getting used to it its no big deal. it sucks to not be able to breath trough nose, but it does not cause waking up and all the super negative jazz.

all people i ever knew who had such sleep problems were heavy snorers, which as i understand is fucking ur self up with stress, coffee, or obesity.

maybe armando is a snorer, but ofc when he can breath trough nose he stops snoring. thats my best guess, because to fuck up your sleep just because your nose is shut sounds strange to me.

I think you’re right , I had allergies since childhood , and i breath through my mouth most of the time , And it doesn’t cause me to wake up too , I don’t even know how does it feel to breath through my nose , i just can’t see the difference because i have never been able to do so , but one thing i have noticed is that , whenever i start doing something that pushes my cardiovascular system to work harder ( cardiovascular activity , tricking ,ect.. ) , My nose is Open and i can breath through it .

Fantastic post. I actually wake up 2-3 times a night ON AVERAGE every night and have never thought anything of it. I just attributed it to me being a light sleeper. I plan on visiting my local drug store tomorrow and investigating speaking to an ENT doctor asap. I suspect my quality of life might be drastically enhanced by following some of these suggestions.

pureapeshit after i was diagnosed the ENT sent me to a place where a sleep study was made, i was diagnosed with sleep apnea with an AHI of 12 (meaning that i experienced 12 episodes of oxygen desaturation per hour) so it was just mild sleep apnea, it was caused because the structures in my throat were always swollen because the chronic mouth breathing and partially blocked the air flow when i was asleep.
one of the reasons no one suspects sleep apnea on young and apparently healthy people it’s because it’s associated with people who are overweight, who have a large neck or a small mandible.

Great article! I can’t wait to try this stuff out and see how it improves my sleep. I wake up so much at night and it could very well be because I’m always congested/one nostril always seems to be closed and breathing get crappy. I snore terribly. I also loved how the lungs connected directly to the spinal column. I didn’t know they did that. 😀

yea but ok0.#23&;8.1. join game2. wait for other players3. start game4. If it is done loading i comes back to main menu and ask for online acc(Normaly tehre is standing synch.. and ready)but this dont happend

I have to say, I too have sleep apnea and have to use a CPAP to sleep. For those that don’t know what a CPAP is it’s the breathing machine you have to wear when you sleep. Before I was diagnosed and had to use one I had extreme difficulty sleeping and it was due to the fact I would just stop breathing at night. I would feel tired and exhausted and it really did affect my daily life both physically and mentally. MInd you I was in the Army still when I was diagnosed and very much still in good weight standards (not so much now) so being overweight couldn’t have been a factor. I contribute this to the harsh conditions I was put through during my time in the service. I’m telling you now if you have ever been told you snore, feel tired even after a decent nights sleep, or just can’t sleep well go have a sleep study done (especially if you’re told that you stop breathing completely).

This is particularly bad in the sense that this can later on lead to cardiovascular issues, which goes hand in hand with the anabolic qualities that Juji points out. I really hope you all will take what has been said very seriously because It does have major consequences. I know a guy that I used to work for that now has three heart stents (mesh tubes that hold your arteries open) because he didn’t take this seriously after being diagnosed and refused to use his CPAP. I use mine every night and I sleep wonderfully.

Strange, it doesn’t taste that bad to me. Not nearly as bad as many other medicines, supplements, etc. But yes, it will go down the back of the throat/mouth, that’s one of the listed side effects is bitter taste.

Night 1: 1 hour before bed, cleaned off my nose and applied the nasal strip. I fucked up the positioning. Fucked it up again. *toss* applied another one perfectly. Woah! My nostrils…they flare. Feels good! Next, time for the 0.05% Oxymetazoline spray (Drixoral). 3 squirts up both nostrils. Ok, holy shit. I have NEVER in my life felt nose breathing be this easy or unrestricted. It’s like I’ve been living a lie. I settle down to go to bed. This is when I realize that having a shitty bed, a hot room, and/or excessive noise from outside will not help keep you asleep. Nor fall asleep easier. Despite the amazing feeling of being able to breathe so freely, I don’t sleep all that well on the first night.

Night 2: Exact same protocol as the night before. I’ve opened my window well-ahead of time and my room is nice and cool, just how I like it. I settle down to sleep an hour after I’ve done this glorious nose treatment protocol. Despite the room being cooler, I’d say I slept only slightly better than average, and I have a feeling that might be some sort of placebo. I’m really starting to think my bed is the culprit. It is old, in all fairness, so I have a new bed on my mind after all this. I REALLY love the nasal clarity, and I’m going to mix up a 5:95 solution of this stuff.

So, this is what I’ve concluded: if your sleeping in a room with a comfortable temperature, in a bed that doesn’t suck, then this protocol will likely work WONDERS. My experience was lack-luster, but I don’t attribute this to the protocol. It’s more than likely my shitty bed.

Years ago, when I did GOMAD, my nose was rendered utterly useless. There was probably other contributing factors going on too, but it certainly FELT like it was the excessive milk. I’ve also had plenty of nose knocks; cars, fists, floors, elbows, dogs, so this program is something I’m going to look into.

I appreciate what you’re saying but I think that characters do need flaws and vulnerabilities. It’s what makes them human. Male characters often do without, such as with Kratos – but that doesn’t make them likeable or good characters.

for you who snore i think you can get fix dat shit by training your soft palet, in free diver community it is well known method to equalize pressure in ears when doing ultra deep dives, you need this shit called frenzel maneuvre or smthing, you can read very detailed and awesome writing about it here: http://liquivision.com/docs/Frenzel_Fattah_English_r2006.pdf

as snoring is soft palet fucking ur airflow i think this should cure it, the ability to control and making soft palet powerful, as i never knew a free diver(no scuba gear) who snores 😀

Next paycheck I’m definitely investing in all these things. I have bad allergies towards maple pollen and some grass types. I had found a 100 piece do-it-yourself nasal strip kit in Amazon Jon, but it is on backorder.

My dad has kind of a cuckoo imagination and is very good at coming up with little innovations around the house and such. I’ve asked him to come up with a way to reuse them, he’s been thinking about it. I hope he delivers, he usually does…

I’m going to give the strips a try, allergies often contribute to a shoddy night of tossing and turning, this could also be attributed to my vagabond style warrior “bed” an 8 year old futon pad on a broken crooked frame.

I announce, in public, that I’m buying a real bed when I move next week! Anyone hear have suggestions for beds that support a muscular figure and keep spinal alignment?

Er, whoops, been juggling numbers all day and had a big brain fart there. Meant to say that th#e;&e39rs got to be 200 million with IQs over 120 in India and China alone. Don't know how I clicked submit on that one…

After reading this article, I am going to schedule an appointment with an ENT doctor ASAP. I have a deviated septum, what caused it? at this point I don’t even know, it could be the time I fell face first onto a hard wood step… or when that time when I was playing soccer and blocked the ball with my nose, all I know is my right nostril sounds like a clogged squeak toy while inhaling deeply.

I tried using these nasal dilators. I found after a few days of use, they made the inside of the nose extremely sensitive and raw. If you used them long term, how did you get around this? They were quite effective.

Yes they will make your nose insides raw. That’s why I recommend diluting them per the recipe, or using them only 1-2 times per week. If you use them everyday they will damage your nostrils. This is for oxymetazolin based nose sprays. I use Dymista which you can use everyday without this problem.

Another useful tool for improving sleep (more like tracking sleep improvement) is the smartphone app called “Sleep.” You put the phone next to your head while you sleep with the app on in the background and it wakes up whenever it hears sharp noises, i.e. snoring. Using this you can see just how effective whatever snoring/sleep apnea solution you’re using is. For me I found the most effective was netty pot + dilator strips. I tried Gregor’s recommended nose inserts and they reduced but did not eliminate snoring.

For DIY nasal strips, what adhesive tape are you guys using? I tried a couple different things but none of the adhesives were strong enough.

hi juji! i noticed that when i use oxy before bedtime my dreams are a lot more vivid and i can control them to some degree. my lucid dreaming abilities are fairly inconsistent (5-10% of the time) by comparison. have you experienced something similar? if yes does it work with dymista too?

I found this video about making DIY nasal strips. Specifically in the comments section someone recommends “Transpore surgical tape” or “Mefix porous self adhesive tape” rather than a bandaid. When I personally tried the bandaid method it was not sticky enough so I will try to get my hands on these tapes and report back. Breathe Right strips were a wonderful product but were too darn expensive.